Leamington Food and Drink Festival
This Saturday, all-food-day, afternoon continued in the Leamington Food and Drink Festival- it’s the 2nd year I’ve been and both times were well worth it!
Walking around the stands while drinking fresh coconut juice- some of us (Dan) with rum- we found and purchased some small culinary treasures- see my top 3 for this year below:
- A Linconshire Poacher cheese aged for 6 months. A hard English cow’s cheese, slight tingle on my tongue, made in a farm- details below. I looked at the pictures of how they make it and it not only tastes but looks like traditionally made cheese. Not to ignore the fact that they were also selling raw unpasteurised milk that I've been trying to track down for ages.
2. Unbelievable mindblowing sweets by the M’Hencha Company; one person serving filo pies- far from baklava- filled with almond paste, with a citrus-y finish and essence of rose water- just unique. Chatting to the owner and creator of this delicacy, she knew her stuff- influences from Persia and Algeria (France), advising me on the best brands of rose water and where to get it from- I need this at times for Greek dessert-making. Doing a bit of research online- as I do- I found that she just won the Golden Fork from the guild of Fine Foods (great taste 2015) for another cake we tried on the day, this one stuffed with cinnamon, date and orange. You can find more on her website and facebook page:
3. Chocolates…2 bars of them…a dark one with candied orange and chilly and a milk one with Cocoa nibs and Sea salt. I always love it so much when people play with chocolate and materials- not that these two were particularly extreme mixes but special they were. (I personally love chocolate with sea salt anyway and do try all the different brands that offer this variety- my favourite being a dark bar of Godiva with sea salt that I have only tracked down in the Birmingham airport to this day.) The reason I liked these particularly was that you were able to see the mixture of ingredients on the chocolate- I could feel the texture in my teeth before I even bite it. Needless to say there are only a couple of pieces left from each right now and the only reason is that I’m more of a savoury eater that a sweet-tooth.
Time to brush teeth…maybe eat some chocolate before…just one piece maybe…
